The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of supporting rib arrangement for a lower or under ceiling which is to be suspended at a structure-fixed ceiling wherein the support or carrier profile members supporting the ceiling components of the lower ceiling, for instance, precast slabs, are arranged in a grid arrangement or field and abut one another with their ends at node points. Further there are provided suspension or hanging components which are connected in such a manner with the supporting rib arrangement and the structure-fixed ceiling respectively, that they allow limited displacement of the supporting rib arrangement relative to the ceiling for tolerance compensation. The invention also relates to a method of using such supporting rib arrangement in a structure.
With a prior art supporting rib arrangement of this type, for instance as taught in Swiss Pat. No. 437,714, the suspension components in the form of vertical bolts are connected at fixed points of the structure-fixed ceiling and secured with the supporting rib arrangement at the node points. At these node points there are also undertaken measures to ensure that the bolts can be adjustably moved within narrow limits, and specifically through the aid of crosswise overlapping elongate holes in the connection plate and the support profile members and by means of an additional adjustment hole in the connection plate. An adjustment movement of a bolt, with this construction, is effective at all other connection locations with the other bolts at the node points. It is for this reason and because of the limited displacement possibility predicated upon such construction that it is impossible to compensate to a desired degree inaccuracies in the structure. This impairs the sound absorbing capability of the ceiling, because joints of different widths cannot be avoided at the support profile ends which directly abut one another at the miter cuts or bevel cuts. Furthermore, the aesthetic appearance of the ceilings which are suspended with the heretofore known support profile is unsatisfactory because the unavoidable inaccuracies are visible.